Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994


The Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994 amended the laws governing federally chartered banks in order to restore the laws' competitiveness with the recently relaxed laws governing state-chartered banks. The goal was the return to a balance between the benefits of a state bank charter versus a federal bank charter. Among other notable changes, the Act stipulated that a federally chartered bank wishing to expand must first undergo a review of its Community Reinvestment Act compliance.

Expansion of the Community Reinvestment Act

Three sections of the IBBEA address and expand the Community Reinvestment Act.
In section 107 :
In section 109 :
Section 110 amends the Community Reinvestment Act itself to include a new section regarding the method of evaluating the compliance of banks with branches in more than one state.

Effect

Newly formed firms used less outside debt financing and invested less, suggesting that greater banking competition increased financial constraints for these firms. These effects diminished and ultimately reversed as firms aged.